As I was looking up pictures to post for this blog I found more pictures of him naked than dressed. When I look at him I think of hippies. When I read "Howl" I thought of hippies too. The thought of free love, drugs and no rules goes into this poem. I assume this poem is autobiographical and Allen was writing about scenes he has witnessed. I read this poem late at night I found the lines about the endless cock and balls funny. I know many people were shocked by the language in the poem, but just some of his wording made it funny to me. I guess being around such a wide variety of people during my life has made me ammune to certain types of languge. To me "Howl" is a confession from a hippie. He is admitting that the free spirited behavior was slowly killing off all his friends. I don't get a mornful feeling about the death of friends.